Review: A Red-Rose Chain

A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since the previous book ended the first cycle, this one doesn’t move to answer a few of the remaining mysteries - what will the night haunts want in return? Where is August? Where is Amy? Will October and Sylvester reconcile? But this book does tie off one loose end from the last cycle as things move to Portland, OR for this book.

October Daye as diplomat is a fun concept. I’m glad that she’s had the personal growth necessary to now have backup and so we have the usual crew supporting her. We also get to meet a new Court of Cats and it’s interesting to see how it compares and contrasts with the one Tybalt runs. What I think is most interesting is that October was so focused on what she needed to do for this mission, that the consequences of what Walther does in this book are left unstated, but they are HUGE! I will be shocked if they don’t reverberate through the next few books or at least serve as the climax of the next cycle.

• Seanan-McGuire
• Fantasy